The popular tabloid, the Sun, reports on an exclusive interview with Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary. The Sun highlights in bold print that Johnson has laid out his four red lines for Brexit, insisting the transition period must last “not a second more” than two years. It points out that all his demands go further than the agreed Cabinet position.

Reading the Sun article at face value, it’s all crystal clear. Why all the nonsense?

Johnson, as usual has no research evidence to back his views. He qualifies his argument as based on ‘talking to lots of people’. Similarly, Johnson’s argument lacks intellectual rigour, As usual, Johnson forgets that ‘the devil’s in the detail’.

The is simply Johnson challenging Theresa May’s government position, once again, for his own political aspirations. The truth, the evidence and what’s in the UK’s best interests are all subordinated. Meanwhile, the Sun smells a story that it can sell to its readers whom it mislead about the risks of Brexit.

Here’s an insightful read from the Independent. Citing Tony Blair, it suggests that Brexit can still be stopped if Britain’s leaders realise EU officials are prepared to “meet us halfway” on restricting the free movement of people. While the former Labour Prime Minister admitted there is “no groundswell” for a second referendum on membership of the EU, Mr Blair said it is possible that the will of the British people could change as the public becomes more aware of the potential economic damage of hard Brexit.

Although he’s a bit out of favour because of the Iraqi war, I still rate Blair as head and shoulders over the current team leading the Labour Party. Blair was an inspirational leader and was very much the man for his time. Of course, he had a huge political mandate, which he squandered but we know that politics has a corrupting influence. In the early days, he closely relied on focus groups, then he lived in rarefied air, removed from the people – the rest is history.

But Blair in his day was a top-class statesman and he’s right about Brexit. The thing is, Corbyn is more concerned with installing a Far Left Labour government, possibly as early as the Autumn 2017, rather than helping the UK make a better strategic case on Brexit. Meanwhile, the Conservatives are in ‘demob’ summer holiday mood, and they don’t seem to care that they don’t have an effective leader.